The Atlanta CEO Council is an organization of executives invited to exclusive events for the purpose of developing relationships, promoting entrepreneurship and investing in the community.
Raj Rajan/Virima
Palaniswamy “Raj” Rajan is co-founder of Virima the world’s first IT Business Operations Automation (IT-BOATM) software that provides a single solution to integrate all aspects of an IT organization. Prior to starting up Virima, Mr. Rajan was the cofounder, President and CEO of Vigilar, Inc, a leading network security technology firm. A highly versatile entrepreneur, he has cofounded several ventures, including eLaunchpad, an early stage venture capital firm/incubator focusing on Internet infrastructure and network security technologies; Emerald Systems, a boutique technology consulting firm; and ResourcIS, an IT recruiting firm. Another earlier success, VerticalOne, a financial aggregator, was sold to S1 in 1999 in a deal valued at $166M. Mr. Rajan serves on the Board of Directors of the above companies and on the advisory boards of several early stage technology firms nationwide.
Mr. Rajan is also involved in several professional and community-related organizations. He was instrumental in establishing the Atlanta CEO Council, and currently serves as its Chairman of the Board of Directors. Mr. Rajan cofounded and serves on the Board of Directors of the Atlanta Chapter of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TIE), a national mentoring organization for technology entrepreneurs. He serves on the Board of Councilors for The Carter Center (President Jimmy Carter’s nonprofit initiative), a leadership advisory group promoting understanding of, and support for, The Carter Center and its activities among Georgia’s private-sector opinion leaders. Mr. Rajan was also selected to Georgia Trend’s “40 Under 40′′ Rising Stars in 2000.
Mr. Rajan is also committed to a variety of charitable organizations focused on providing support and education. Beneficiaries include Raksha, (meaning protection in several South Asian languages) a Georgia nonprofit support network for South Asians in distress, and CRY (Child Relief and You), a US-based group helping deprived children.
Mr. Rajan holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering and a Master’s degree in Computer Science from the Florida Institute of Technology. Mr. Rajan was born in Coimbatore, India and raised in Bangalore, India.
Glenn McGonnigle/TechOperators
Glenn McGonnigle is a General Partner at TechOperators. Prior to launching TechOperators, Glenn was most recently Chairman and CEO of Atlanta-based VistaScape Security Systems, a leading provider of enterprise intelligent video surveillance software where he was recruited by the company’s board to raise capital and grow the business. He subsequently oversaw the successful sale of the company to Siemens Building Technologies. An authority on IT and physical security convergence and a frequent contributor and expert speaker for numerous industry publications and events, Glenn helped shape President Bush’s 2005 National Strategy for Maritime Security.
Previously, Glenn was a co-founder and top executive of Atlanta-based Internet Security Systems (ISS) where he helped raise initial venture capital and launch the business. For 7 years, he led the business development team in developing sales channels and entering the managed security services market. During his tenure, the company grew from startup to revenues of over $225 million and was recently acquired by IBM for $1.5 billion.
Prior to ISS, he was President and co-founder of Data Integrity Services Corporation, an early-stage provider of WAN-based data management services. Throughout his 24 year career, Glenn has remained focused on emerging technologies and has held a variety of sales and marketing executive positions during the high growth stages of EMC, Epoch Systems, Borland, and Wang Laboratories.
He is an active member of the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG) and sits on the board of the Venture Atlanta Conference. In addition, he has served as Entrepreneur in Residence and CapVenture coach supporting Georgia’s Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC). McGonnigle holds a BS in mechanical engineering from the University of Virginia.
Glenn oversees the fund’s investments in Immunet, JouleX, and Endgame Systems.
Peter Baron/Carabiner Communications
Peter Baron is principal of Carabiner Communications, where he acts as a senior-level consultant, offering advice to clients on product positioning and how to leverage the latest market trends. Through more than two decades of high-tech PR experience, Peter has the skills to recognize new opportunities in the marketplace and help clients prepare strategies accordingly. He has worked with entrepreneurs spanning the technology ecosystem including telecommunications, networking, healthcare technology and enterprise software solutions. Peter received a bachelor’s degree in journalism and PR from the University of Utah.
Greg Harley/Burr & Forman
Greg is a partner in the Burr & Forman’s Commercial Litigation group with a concentration on business litigation, class action defense and employment matters. Greg has extensive experience in all aspects of civil litigation and has handled disputes on behalf of plaintiffs and defendants on a broad range of issues including breach of contract, fraud, bad faith, trade secrets, defamation and unfair business practices claims. While Greg’s practice is centered in Georgia and Alabama, he has represented clients in matters across the United States.
Greg’s clients include national banking institutions, insurers and one of Georgia’s largest residential contracting companies. Greg also currently serves as national litigation counsel for a diversified telecommunications company.
